``By the 11th ball, my hands were shaking. By the 12th, my knees were just like water. I tried to concentrate on not looking behind me, because by that time, you know everybody`s watching. The whole place was quiet.``

Holland said her 12th ball seemed to roll for an eternity.

Finally, it reached the pins.

``Everything went but the 7-pin,`` Holland said, ``but it finally toppled over.

``Then I remember coming off the approach and seeing everyone bunched together. And I remember them grabbing at me, congratulating me. But I couldn`t tell you what happenned the next five minutes.`

Unlike a baseball pitcher who doesn`t want to think about the perfect game or no-hitter until the ninth inning, Holland was musing about perfection by the fifth frame.

``I started feeling really good about it in the fifth frame,`` Holland said. ``Later, one of the guys on my team said, `Hey, that`s early.` ``

Holland`s life may never be the same.

``For the first couple days after the 300, I was up so high it was hard to come down,`` said Holland, a bank officer in Palm Beach Gardens. ``I was really concerned about trying to bowl again Thursday night.``

In addition to bowling at Verdes, Holland bowls in two leagues at Sam Costa`s Riviera Beach Lanes -- the Riviera Classic League on Tuesday and the Harbor Lite League on Thursday.

Holland shot a 645 on Thursday, a day after her perfect game. She had games of 225, 225 and 195.

Holland`s average is 187. Her previous high game was a 290 in 1986 at Lantana Lanes. She rolled a 285 in a county tournament ``about five years ago,`` she said.

There was no drama in the 290, because Holland began by leaving an 8-pin in the first frame, then striking out.

Holland, 42, has been bowling for 23 years. She said rolling the 300 at Verdes was particularly significant for her, because her mother, Marge Schmitke, worked as an instructor at Verdes when proprietor Hazel Daniel opened the popular house in 1959.

``Mom used to bowl with Hazel,`` Holland said. ``I`ve known Hazel since I was 4 years old. I wish (Hazel) could have been there for the 300, but she was out of town.

``Mom was the first one I called after the game. Then I called my kids.``

Holland`s children -- Michael, 17 and David, 15 -- both compete on Saturday in the Young American Bowling Alliance leagues at Fair Lanes Palm Springs.

Holland is a YABA coach at Fair Lanes, although, this year, she`s not coaching her sons.

She likes it that way.

``Fortunately, I don`t coach them,`` Holland said. ``It can be like trying to teach your wife to drive. You end up yelling at each other. I enjoy my sons a lot more, now that I`m not coaching them. Michael has had two 600 sets since he has been away from his mom`s coaching.``

Last Saturday at Fair Lanes, Holland -- not the kids -- was the center of attention.

``It was nice to go in there and have them announce what I had done (bowl a 300),`` Holland said. ``Really nice.``